If you have been reading about Visceral adipose tissue and want a single page that covers the useful parts, this is it: definitions, context, how it is studied, and the questions that come up repeatedly.
Last reviewed on 2025-10-12. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
Tesamorelin is a synthetic peptide that belongs to the growth hormone-releasing hormone family and contains the same forty-four amino acid sequence as endogenous GHRH, extended at the amino terminus by a trans-3-hexenoyl group. That small fatty acid modification protects the peptide from rapid cleavage by dipeptidyl peptidase-4, the enzyme that shortens the half-life of native GHRH to only a few minutes. Chemically the compound is produced by solid-phase peptide synthesis, purified by chromatography, and supplied as a sterile lyophilized powder for reconstitution.
Regulatory approval in the United States came in 2010, when the Food and Drug Administration cleared the peptide for the reduction of excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV infection and associated lipodystrophy. The decision rested mainly on two randomized phase 3 trials that enrolled roughly eight hundred patients and ran for twenty-six weeks. Participants receiving active drug showed substantially greater declines in visceral adipose tissue than those receiving placebo, while total body weight changed comparatively little. A reformulated presentation was later approved, and the product has remained a niche therapy rather than a general weight-loss agent.
Binding of tesamorelin to GHRH receptors on pituitary somatotroph cells triggers cyclic AMP signaling and the release of growth hormone into circulation. Because the peptide acts upstream of the growth hormone axis, its effects are partly mediated by hepatic insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) production. The pulsatile character of endogenous growth hormone secretion is preserved rather than replaced. Whether amplified signaling produces effects beyond those of native GHRH remains an area of ongoing investigation.
A documented effect of tesamorelin is a reduction in visceral adipose tissue in some study populations. Researchers have reported decreases in trunk fat measured by computed tomography alongside changes in lipid markers. The mechanism is thought to involve growth hormone-mediated lipolysis, though the precise contribution of direct versus indirect pathways is not fully resolved. Studies have generally examined defined groups over finite periods, so long-term outcomes are less well characterized. Findings have not been uniform across all trials.
Tesamorelin is a synthetic peptide analog of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). Its sequence corresponds to the 44-amino-acid form of human GHRH with a trans-3-hexenoyl group attached to the N-terminal tyrosine. This modification slows enzymatic cleavage and extends the peptide's activity relative to the native hormone. The compound is produced by solid-phase peptide synthesis and supplied as a lyophilized powder. Researchers classify it as a GHRH receptor agonist. Its structure places it in the same family as other growth hormone secretagogues that act on the pituitary.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peptide class | Synthetic GHRH analogue | 44 residues; N-terminal trans-3-hexenoyl group |
| First approval year | 2010 | United States; HIV-associated abdominal fat accumulation |
| Administration route | Subcutaneous injection | Abdominal site; clinician-administered or self-injected |
| Common synonyms | TH9507; tesamorelin acetate | Development code and acetate salt form |
| Originator | Canadian biotechnology firm | Original developer and regulatory sponsor |
Several compounds share the GHRH framework, including sermorelin, the shorter 1-29 fragment, and other analogs built on the full 1-44 chain. Naming follows a common convention: a stem that identifies the peptide plus a suffix marking analog status. Reports may describe tesamorelin by its sequence fragment, as a GHRH(1-44) analog, or by its amino-terminal modification. Indexing the compound therefore requires searching all of these forms, since some older literature predates the current international nonproprietary name.
Tesamorelin is a synthetic peptide built from 44 amino acids and classified with the growth hormone–releasing hormone family. Its sequence corresponds to the human GHRH(1-44) backbone, carrying one structural change at the amino terminus. That change is a trans-3-hexenoyl group placed where the natural peptide would have an unmodified end. The modification is the feature that separates the compound from the endogenous hormone in name, in stability, and in how it is handled in the laboratory.
The hexenoyl cap slows the enzyme step that trims the amino terminus of native GHRH, the same step that shortens its active lifetime in circulation. As a result, the modified peptide persists longer in plasma than the unmodified hormone in side-by-side comparison. Receptor activity stays broadly comparable, because the added group sits away from the residues that contact the binding site. This combination, preserved receptor activity with reduced degradation, explains why the analog was developed instead of the native sequence.
After injection, the peptide binds receptors on somatotroph cells in the anterior pituitary. Receptor activation raises intracellular cyclic AMP and triggers release of stored growth hormone into the bloodstream. Because the compound works through the body's own regulatory system, growth hormone pulses retain much of their normal feedback control. Repeated administration also raises insulin-like growth factor 1, a hormone produced mainly in the liver. Investigators treat that rise as a marker that the pituitary axis has been engaged.
Clinical study of tesamorelin has centered on adults with HIV-associated lipodystrophy, a condition in which abdominal fat accumulates while peripheral fat is lost. In controlled trials, treated participants showed reductions in visceral adipose tissue measured by imaging, alongside modest shifts in some lipid values. Effects on subcutaneous fat were smaller and less consistent across studies. Whether these changes translate into fewer cardiovascular events remains an open question, because the trials were not designed or powered to answer it.
=== Paramount and CBS partnership === On August 11, 2025, the UFC announced a seven-year media rights agreement with Paramount Skydance Corporation worth $7.7 billion. Paramount+ will exclusively stream all events for seven years, starting in 2026. Some numbered events will also air on CBS. The agreement will allow the UFC to move away from pay-per-view as events will stream on Paramount+ at no additional cost. All 13 of the UFC's flagship events and 30 Fight Nights a year will be streamed on the Paramount+ service. UFC CEO and President Dana White announced the UFC would produce four big events per year on CBS, and that the UFC's planned card for the White House on June 14th, 2026 would be one of those events.
Microplastic is a type of airborne particulates and is found to prevail in air. A 2017 study found indoor airborne microfiber concentrations between 1.0 and 60.0 microfibers per cubic meter (33% of which were found to be microplastics). Airborne microplastic dust can be produced during renovation, building, bridge and road reconstruction projects and the use of power tools.
=== Chinese majors === On 16 September, the AQSIQ released test of samples from 491 batches of products sold by all 109 companies producing baby formula. It said all 11 samples from Sanlu failed the melamine test. Sanlu, whose products sell at half the price of equivalents on the market, recorded the highest levels of contamination among all the samples tested, at 2,563 mg/kg or parts per million ("ppm"). Tainted samples were found among 21 other suppliers, where concentrations ranged from 0.09 to 619.00 ppm. There was melamine contamination in 10% of liquid milk samples from Mengniu and Yili, and 6% of those from Bright Dairy. On discovery of contamination, the three major producers were all stripped of their status as 'Chinese national brands'. Yili, Mengniu and Bright Dairy & Food Co. recalled tainted powdered milk and apologised in separate statements. Mengniu recalled all its baby formula, and trading in its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended on 17 September. Shares in other dairy companies fell strongly the next day. Mengniu's CFO attempted to reassure consumers by offering a no-quibble refund on all products, and by drinking liquid milk in front of reporters in Hong Kong. He also said that its export products were less likely to be contaminated. On 30 September, the AQSIQ announced test results of a further 265 batches of powdered milk produced by 154 different companies prior to 14 September, where it found 31 batches produced by 20 domestic dairy companies were tainted with melamine.
For example, 5α-pregnane-3α,17α-diol-20-one has a hydrogen atom at the 5α position (hence the "5α-" prefix), two hydroxy groups (-OH) at the 3α and 17α positions (hence "3α,17α-diol" suffix) and an oxo group (=O) at the position 20 (hence the "20-one" suffix). However, erroneous use of suffixes can be found, e.g., "5α-pregnan-17α-diol-3,11,20-trione" [sic] — since it has just one hydroxy group (at 17α) rather than two, then the suffix should be -ol, rather than -diol, so that the correct name to be "5α-pregnan-17α-ol-3,11,20-trione". According to the rule set in the Nomenclature of Steroids, the terminal "e" in the parent structure name should be elided before the vowel (the presence or absence of a number does not affect such elision). This means, for instance, that if the suffix immediately appended to the parent structure name begins with a vowel, the trailing "e" is removed from that name. An example of such removal is "5α-pregnan-17α-ol-3,20-dione", where the last "e" of "pregnane" is dropped due to the vowel ("o") at the beginning of the suffix -ol. Some authors incorrectly use this rule, eliding the terminal "e" where it should be kept, or vice versa. The term "11-oxygenated" refers to the presence of an oxygen atom as an oxo (=O) or hydroxy (-OH) substituent at carbon 11. "Oxygenated" is consistently used within the chemistry of the steroids since the 1950s. Some studies use the term "11-oxyandrogens" as an abbreviation for 11-oxygenated androgens, to emphasize that they all have an oxygen atom attached to carbon at position 11.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Sandalore is a synthetic sandalwood odorant with odor in some ways similar to sandalwood and consequently used in perfumes, emollients, and skin cleaning agents. Sandalore, and the similar brahmanol, have been identified as agonists of the cutaneous olfactory receptor OR2AT4, and found to induce strong Ca2+ signals in cultured human keratinocytes. The long-term stimulation of keratinocytes with sandalore positively affected cell proliferation and migration, and regeneration of keratinocyte monolayers in an in vitro wound scratch assay (i.e., sandalore stimulation also enhanced epidermal "wound healing" in human skin organ cultures). Natural sandalwood oil and other synthetic sandalwood odorants did not have the same effect.
Kenney, Padraic. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End: A Brief History with Documents (2009) covers Poland, the Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China Leffler, Melvyn P. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (2007) pp 338–450. Mann, James. The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War (2010). popular Matlock, Jack F. Autopsy on an Empire (1995) online by US ambassador to Moscow Matlock, Jack F. Reagan and Gorbachev : how the Cold War ended (2004) online Powaski, Ronald E. The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917–1991 (1998) Romero, Federico. "Cold War historiography at the crossroads." Cold War History 14.4 (2014): 685–703. online Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (1993), a primary source Wilson, James Graham. The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War (2014) Wohlforth, William C. "Realism and the End of the Cold War." International Security 19.3 (1994): 91–129. online Zubok, Vladislav M. "Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War: Perspectives on History and Personality," Cold War History (2002) 2:2, 61–100, DOI: 10.1080/713999954 Zubok, Vladislav M. A failed empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2009). online Archived 2020-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
==== Subsidies for Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") ==== On January 8, 2026, the House voted 230–196 to extend the higher Biden-era subsidies for another three years. Without this extension, it's estimated that monthly premiums will double for many persons who are signed up for the Affordable Care Act. One House Republican said, "I am voting in favor of this discharge and of this legislation to send it to the Senate, so that the Senate will have the opportunity to put forth a reform package that can pass Congress and become law."
GSK was fined for promoting Paxil/Seroxat (paroxetine) for treating depression in the under-18s, although the drug had not been approved for pediatric use. Paxil had US$4.97 billion worldwide sales in 2003. The company conducted nine clinical trials between 1994, and 2002, none of which showed that Paxil helped children with depression. From 1998, to 2003, it promoted the drug for the under-18s, paying physicians to go on all-expenses paid trips, five-star hotels and spas. From 2004, Paxil's label, along with those of similar drugs, included an FDA-mandated boxed warning that it might increase the risk of suicidal ideation and behaviour in patients under 18. An internal SmithKline Beecham document said in 1998, about withheld data from two GSK studies: "It would be commercially unacceptable to include a statement that [pediatric] efficacy had not been demonstrated, as this would undermine the profile of paroxetine." The company ghostwrote an article, published in 2001, in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, that misreported the results of one of its clinical trials, Study 329. The article concluded that Paxil was "generally well tolerated and effective for major depression in adolescents." The suppression of the research findings is the subject of the 2008 book Side Effects by Alison Bass. For 10 years GSK marketed Paxil as non-habit forming.
In contrast, many derivatives retained a significant percentage of residual anti-MRSA activity following exposure to serum. Thioester intermediates to the ketone derivatives were found to be unstable, exhibiting 0% residual activity, although they had improved antibacterial activity, exhibiting sub-micromolar MIC values. The propyl ketone was found to be the most promising derivative of all the analogs obtained, both exhibiting antibacterial activity against the bacterial strains tested and stability in plasma, retaining 100% residual activity. The MIC values obtained for the propyl derivative were the same as those found for bottromycin A2 except in the case of NCTC12201, which had an MIC of 2 μg/mL for the derivative and an MIC of 1 μg/mL for bottromycin A2. A summary of MIC values for tested bacterial strains is shown below. Even the least active bottromycin derivatives exhibited greater anti-VRE activity than vancomycin, which was used as a control antibiotic in this study. The propyl derivative and bottromycin A2 had similar antimicrobial activity to linezolid, a synthetic antibiotic active against Gram-positive bacteria including MRSA and VRE, across all the bacterial strains studied. Overall, the results of this study suggested that further modifications of bottromycin may lead to a more stable, effective antibiotic.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Isolated cataplexy unto itself (i.e., in the absence of characteristically associated narcolepsy), admittedly a rare condition There is anecdotal and tentative, as-yet-undocumented information suggesting that clomipramine may address certain core features of hyperacusis, and possibly misophonia. In the case of hyperacusis, this appears to be especially the case at doses > 150 mg/d. As-with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a full response to any one dose may not be experienced for up to 12–16 weeks. Although lithium is most-associated with the treatment of bipolar disorder (where it is known for its general mood-stabilising features and to be especially useful in treating and preventing mania), it may have a certain place in the management of treatment-resistant depression (which is often of higher severity than other depressions which have not been addressed with ECT). In these cases it is often prescribed alongside SSRIs (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine), venlafaxine and various of the tricyclics (e.g., clomipramine, amitriptyline, nortriptyline, maprotiline), which is why it may feature sometimes in the discussion of depression being managed with clomipramine. Lithium also significantly reduces the long-term risk of suicide in general. In any case, it is not necessary to have a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder (manic-depressive illness), or even to be considered to have subtle elements of it ("soft bipolarity"), to benefit from lithium in the context of treatment with clomipramine.
== History == Avalglucosidase alfa's safety data was obtained from four clinical trials (trial 1/NCT02782741, trial 2/NCT01898364, trial 3/NCT02032524, trial 4/NCT03019406). These trials enrolled 124 participants with late-onset Pompe disease and 22 participants with infantile-onset Pompe disease. The participants were from 22 countries around the world, including the United States. Avalglucosidase alfa was evaluated in four trials of 146 participants with Pompe disease. Trial 1 evaluated the benefits and side effects of avalglucosidase alfa, and all four trials evaluated the side effects of avalglucosidase alfa. In trial 1, participants received either avalglucosidase alfa or another drug (called the active comparator) intravenously once every two weeks for 49 weeks. Neither the participants nor the healthcare providers knew which treatment was being given until after week 49. Participants in this trial were followed for up to five years. The benefit of avalglucosidase alfa was evaluated by comparing the change in lung function and distance walked between participants who received avalglucosidase alfa to the change in participants who were treated with the active comparator.
=== Elimination of graduate tuition assistance to selected schools === In February 2026, Sec. Hegseth announced that the Defense Department would eliminate all graduate-level professional military training, fellowships and certificate programs at Harvard University starting in the fall of 2026 because of the institution's "anti-military bias." In the memo issued by the DoD, Hegseth also said the department would investigate other universities. The memo listed 33 colleges and universities including Princeton, Duke, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon. The Pentagon stated that service members could gain the same experience from the war colleges, military academies and public universities at lower cost. Opponents say that this could hurt readiness and retention as mid-career officers see the programs as a benefit that can help them in their post-military careers. Georgetown law professor Rosa Brooks stated, "Cutting off their access to the best universities in the country is just plain dumb, and suggests Hegseth thinks officers can't be trusted to bring any critical thinking to their classes and academic work, distinguishing between opinion and fact." On March 2, 2026, the Pentagon released a list of 20 partner institutions that Hegseth says are examples of "intellectual freedom, minimal relationships with adversaries, minimal public expressions in opposition of the Department, and Graduate-level National Security, International Affairs, and/or Public Policy Programs".
In the early 20th century, Freer, in 1902, and Killian, in 1904, pioneered the submucous resection septoplasty (SMR) procedure for correcting a deviated septum; they raised mucoperichondrial tissue flaps, and resected the cartilaginous and bony septum (including the vomer bone and the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone), maintaining septal support with a 1.0-cm margin at the dorsum and a 1.0-cm margin at the caudad, for which innovations the technique became the foundational, standard septoplastic procedure. In 1929, Peer and Metzenbaum performed the first manipulation of the caudal septum, where it originates and projects from the forehead. In 1934, Aurel Rethi introduced the open rhinoplasty approach featuring an incision to the nasal septum to facilitate modifying the tip of the nose. In 1947, Maurice H. Cottle (1898–1981) endonasally resolved a septal deviation with a minimalist hemitransfixion incision, which conserved the septum; thus, he advocated for the practical primacy of the closed rhinoplasty approach. In 1957, A. Sercer advocated the "decortication of the nose" (Dekortication des Nase) technique which featured a columellar-incision open rhinoplasty that allowed greater access to the nasal cavity and to the nasal septum. The endonasal rhinoplasty was the usual approach to nose surgery until the 1970s, when Padovan presented his technical refinements, advocating the open rhinoplasty approach; he was seconded by Wilfred S. Goodman in the later 1970s, and by Jack P. Gunter in the 1990s.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a laboratory-made peptide of forty-four amino acids whose sequence matches human growth hormone-releasing hormone, with a modified amino terminus. The modification is a short unsaturated fatty acid chain attached to the first residue. This change slows enzymatic breakdown and lengthens the time the peptide stays active in circulation.
The clinical program was designed around HIV-associated lipodystrophy, a condition in which fat accumulates abnormally around the internal organs. Trials enrolled that specific population, so the evidence base covers it rather than the general population. Regulators approved the drug for the studied indication only, and promotion outside it is not permitted.
Growth hormone therapy supplies the finished hormone directly, while this peptide acts upstream and asks the pituitary to secrete its own. That difference means the response depends on a functioning pituitary and on the body's normal feedback loops. It also means the circulating hormone profile is pulsatile rather than a flat, injected level.
It mirrors the 44-residue form of human growth hormone-releasing hormone. A hexenoyl group on the N-terminal tyrosine distinguishes it from the unmodified hormone. The change is intended to improve resistance to enzymatic breakdown.